


Carry You

by comicc_bookk_jawnss



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Comfort, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Light Angst, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29269911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comicc_bookk_jawnss/pseuds/comicc_bookk_jawnss
Summary: When a sleepy Jamie makes a rather heartbreaking confession, Dani is determined to lift her up — literally.
Relationships: Dani Clayton & Jamie, Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 4
Kudos: 97





	Carry You

“Poppins, _wha-re_ ya doin’?”

Jamie’s eyes were still closed, and her voice sounded sleepy, slurred almost. And her accent got even thicker when she was tired, to the point that Dani hadn’t been able to understand her on occasion when they’d first set out. But now, a few months in, she was fluent in “sleepy Jamie.”

Sighing, Dani gently lowered Jamie’s upper body back onto their picnic blanket and knelt beside her. Mercifully, they were in a relatively secluded area, so no one had seen her trying to carry Jamie back to their car for the past five minutes to no avail. She’d barely even gotten her off the ground.

Every time she’d come close, she’d felt herself already losing her grip and lowered her back down, not wanting to lift her higher only to drop her.

She’d done that once before when they’d been making out, having hiked Jamie up to her waist; and while they’d both burst out laughing, perfectly fine, if she dropped her now, she would negate her goal of letting Jamie sleep — though maybe she already had.

“When did you wake up?”

“Mmm.” Jamie answered with a shrug, or what was clearly meant to be a shrug.

Dani choked back a laugh. Jamie was still mostly asleep. But that meant she still had the same problem: how would she get her to the car? As she tried to think, Jamie spoke again.

“’Preciate the _sen-imen_ ’.”

“Hmm?”

“Ya tried _a_ ’ _leas_ ’.” Smiling a bit sadly, Jamie turned onto her side, facing away from Dani. But as she curled up, she arched her back until it was resting against Dani’s knees. “Only… the only… ”

A moment later, she heard Jamie’s breathing deepening again, but hers was caught in her throat.

It was a warm fall night, so Jamie was in just a T-shirt, which Dani had partially untucked during a make-out session, and jeans. Dani rested her hand against Jamie’s stomach, rubbing gently with her thumb. Not that she was trying to start things up again, she just knew Jamie liked skin-to-skin contact. And sure enough, she heard Jamie sigh contentedly.

It was seemingly little things like this — like a hug, an arm around a shoulder, a handhold, whether romantic or plantonic — that Dani, until she’d met Jamie, had never realized she’d taken… not for granted, exactly — she’d always appreciated them — but rather as a kind of baseline, a common denominator.

Because she’d had a difficult childhood, more difficult than most, but she’d still been held, been carried more times than she could count.

Not by her mother, really. But one of her strongest memories of her father was sitting on his shoulders and giggling as he ran around in their backyard. It had happened multiple times while he’d been well, she was sure, but they’d all sort of blended together at some point. And then there’d been Judy carrying her upstairs after she and Eddie had passed out in front of the TV on a Friday or Saturday night.

Then, there’d been Eddie himself when she’d pass out on the couch grading assignments or working on lesson plans. Granted, that would usually lead to a lecture of sorts the next morning about how she shouldn’t push herself so hard, Eddie being unaware that it was not a coincidence that she did her work on the couch rather than in bed.

And, most recently, of course, there’d been Jamie on their [one-month anniversary](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28698432). It had meant so much to Dani, had felt _right_ in a way it never had with Eddie.

And it also made Jamie’s confession even more heartbreaking.

Dani had continually lowered her baseline, her frame of reference, since she’d met Jamie — both in an effort to not make her feel uncomfortable about her past and to make sure she was giving her everything she needed — and yet here she was, [caught off-guard again by just how much Jamie had been deprived of](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28836057).

She found herself drifting back to that night by the fireplace, the “sleepover” — how Jamie had picked up Flora as a matter of course. At the time, Dani had assumed she was doing it as a favor to her, but maybe it had had even more to do with Flora, and with Jamie herself.

*****

“Dani, you’re gonna… hurt yourself!”

The yawn midway through had rather undercut her tone. Jamie rubbed her face even harder, trying to wake up as she felt Dani’s arms, underneath her back and knees, shakily trying to lift her. Fortunately, with another grunt of frustration, Dani lowered her to the ground. But Jamie knew it would only be temporary.

“I said somethin’, didn’t I?”

“Huh?”

Jamie finally opened her eyes fully. Dani was flush from exertion and frustration, and she was breathing heavily. Jamie sighed.

“Never mind.”

She took a deep breath and stood up.

“No!”

Dani was still kneeling and now looked distressed, disappointed. Jamie sighed once more.

“So I did, then?”

She saw Dani swallow, then slowly stand up herself and look back down at the ground.

“I - I’m sorry… Jamie.” Her voice sounded small, and she was still catching her breath. Jamie wanted to kick her pathetically honest tired self for inadvertently guilt-tripping Dani. “I - I really tried, but - ”

“Dani, it’s fine.” Jamie tried to choke back a nervous laugh but couldn’t quite manage it. “I’m fine.”

Jamie took her hands and tried to give her a reassuring smile, but Dani shook her head.

“You - you can - you _did…_ for me.” Dani looked up at her. “I should be able to do it for you.”

Now Jamie was shaking her head.

“Not a matter ah ‘should.’ It’s the… the thought that… ” Jamie trailed off as Dani abruptly coughed out a laugh. “What?”

Dani sighed.

“That’s what you said.” Jamie cocked her head, so she pressed on. “That you appreciated the _sentiment_ since… since I was… ” Dani swallowed and looked back down. “The only… ”

“Oh… ” _Fuck._

So no matter what she said now to reassure her, Dani wouldn’t believe her. And she wouldn’t let it go. Sighing, Jamie rubbed the back of her neck as her cheeks burned.

“I could, uh… ” She cleared her throat. “I could try to _teach_ ya… how to do it.” Dani jerked her head back up, and Jamie was relieved to see a spark returning to those blue-brown eyes, but then it started receding just quickly. “S’not just about strength.”

Dani’s eyes widened once more, and then she smiled.

*****

“Nope.”

Dani smiled ruefully. Jamie was really having entirely too much fun with this, she thought as she lowered her back to the ground.

“What now?”

They’d been at this for fifteen minutes or so. First, Jamie had demonstrated a few times on her, making it look completely effortless, of course, even as she did it painfully slowly so that Dani would be able to identify everything she was doing.

And Dani had really tried to pay attention, which was _really_ saying something considering how distracted she’d been for… obvious reasons — which Jamie had neither failed to notice nor point out with the exact same smirk she was wearing now.

“You’ve gotta lift with your whole body.”

“I am!”

“No, you’re not. If ya were, I wouldn’t be able to see… as much ah ya.” Dani’s cheeks had been burning so consistently since they’d started this that she barely even felt it now. But she saw Jamie’s smirk soften. “All right, all right, this time just - don’t focus on liftin’. Focus on maintainin’ your posture. Go as high as ya can without bendin’ over, and then lower me back down, yeah?”

Dani nodded, shook out her arms and took a deep breath. Jamie was already sitting up with her arms wrapped around her neck, so it should’ve been easier than trying to lift her in her sleep had been. But Dani was still struggling. Granted, it was partially muscle fatigue… which meant it would soon be pointless to keep trying.

Dani took another deep breath, then pushed off with her right leg while her left stayed kneeling. Only a couple inches off the ground, she was already feeling the urge to arch her back, so instead she pulled Jamie closer and leaned back, groaning slightly through gritted teeth.

“Poppins.”

A couple inches higher now, she started raising her left leg and wobbled immediately.

“Dani.”

Even higher now, her whole body was shaking, and she could feel her shoulders starting to droop. But she was so close.

“ _Dani_.”

She took another deep breath, then exhaled and threw her shoulders back, giving her just enough momentum to swing Jamie up and prop her against her stomach. She gasped, closing her eyes. It still wasn’t proper posture. Her knees were bent forward. Her back was arched too far the other way now. But…

“Shit.”

Dani opened her eyes. Jamie was looking down at the ground, and then she looked back up at her in awe, blushing. There was that crooked smile, finally. Dani gave her a dazed smile back, still breathing heavily. And then her knees buckled, and her arms gave out.

*****

“ _Luh_ ya.”

Dani almost dropped her… again. Fortunately, this time it would’ve been onto a couch. It had been a particularly busy day at The Leafling, summer weddings and all that, so Dani had told her to take a nap in the back room after they’d closed up. And, for once, Jamie hadn’t objected.

Dani had picked her up for practice, really. There was no way she could carry her all the way back to their apartment. But she could lift her up, turn around and sit down, laying Jamie’s head in her lap. At least, that had been the plan, and then this had happened.

Jamie had said it for the first few time a few days ago, and quite a few more times that same day, some right here in his room, in fact. But this was the first time she was saying it truly spontaneously, and in her sleep at that. With Jamie’s arms wrapped her neck, Dani felt Jamie pull herself even closer, nestle her head against her collarbone and then sigh.

Tears already trickling down her face, Dani choked out something between a laugh and sob. She stayed like that for a few moments, until she was genuinely in danger of dropping her as her arms shook. Reluctantly, she turned around and sat down. She went to help Jamie readjust, but Jamie seemed quite content to stay as she was, sitting up in Dani’s lap with her upper body twisted inward toward Dani.

So, instead, she wrapped one arm around Jamie’s back, rubbing it gently, and rested her other hand on Jamie’s knee, tracing small circles with her thumb. Then, she leaned down and kissed her temple.

“Love you too, Jay.”


End file.
